There are only two weeks remaining in the fantasy regular season. With all the hype surrounding fantasy baseball in recent weeks, it is easy to forget that the fantasy basketball playoffs are quickly approaching. Don’t let baseball draft day preparation distract you from winning a league title in basketball. Otherwise, over 20 weeks of hard work will have been for nothing.

Injury Roundup

Allen Iverson (PG,SG), Detroit Pistons: A.I.’s back has been hurting him lately and he has missed over a week’s worth of action and he did not play Monday against Orlando. No further reports have been given on when he will be back.

Carlos Boozer (PF,C), Utah Jazz: Well, the return only lasted six games. Boozer sat out Sunday with ankle soreness that may also keep him from playing Tuesday against the Pacers.

Kenyon Martin (PF), Denver Nuggets: K-Mart has re-aggravated his back, which has caused him to miss time last month. Recently he missed three straight games, but he was back in the lineup on Monday.

Three Shining Stars

Chris Paul (PG), New Orleans Hornets: CP3 made his case for MVP with 21.3 points and 13.3 assists on 52.0% shooting. Paul’s 4.7 reb were good and his 3.3 steals showed us how dominant he can be all across the board.

Steve Nash (PG), Phoenix Suns: Last week he was in the “Injury Roundup” and now he has climbed up to the highest level. Nash did so by scoring 26.0 points and dishing the ball out plenty with 10.5 assists. Throwing in 4.8 reb and 1.5 steals helped his value as did his 2.0 threes and FG% of 55.0.

Marc Gasol (C), Memphis Grizzlies: Gasol is not universally owned in Yahoo! leagues (67%) but he may find new homes very shortly when people see his line from Week 19. In four games, the big man shot 71.8% and scored 21.3 points. He grabbed plenty of boards (9.8), dished the ball out well (4.0 assists), and had more than his fair share of blocks (2.8).

Three Fading Stars

Josh Smith (SF,PF), Atlanta Hawks: Smith’s points (15.3) were right on par with his season average, but everything else took a hit. His rebounds, assists, and steals were all down last week. He also continued to stink up his free throws with a 52.9 FT%.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas (C), Cleveland Cavaliers: Big Z’s points (10.5) suffered last week due to an uncharacteristic 34.8 FG%. The big Soviet also failed to reach season averages in rebounds, assists, blocks, and FT%.

Andrei Kirilenko (SF,PF), Utah Jazz: Considering how often he is injured, you’d think I’d cut him some slack. Guess again. Kirilenko’s less than stellar FG% of 40.0 led to a decrease in points for the week (11.0). He also failed to reach his averages with 3.3 reb, 0.0 steals, and 0.3 blocks.

Players To Pick Up

Jarrett Jack (PG,SG), Indiana Pacers: This is the last time I recommend Double-J to all of you. He is only 55% owned in Yahoo! leagues and since becoming a starter, he has yet to disappoint. So far in March he is scoring 24.0 ppg on an even 50.0% shooting. He is dropping 1.8 threes and has 5.5 assists with 1.5 steals this month. PICK HIM UP NOW!

Rasual Butler (SG,SF), New Orleans Hornets: Butler has become a cheap source of points in the past week with 18.0. He has grabbed his fair share of rebounds (6.3) and has made 2.0 threes as well. Butler’s healthy amount of scoring includes two 20+ point efforts in his last four contests.

Travis Outlaw (SF,PF), Portland Trail Blazers: Outlaw has done noting but help his limited amount of owners (53% in Yahoo!) by scoring 16.7 points in three games last week. He added to other categories by getting 7.0 reb and 1.3 blocks. Best of all was that he didn’t kill your shooting percentages with a 57.5 FG% and a perfect FT%.

Sports of Boston Friends and Family League

I continue my winning streak with a small victory over SoB’s Jeff by a score of 5-4. I remain in 2nd place.

SoB’s Mike’s momentum won’t run out anytime soon as he stays in first place after a 6-3 win.